BERLIN (AP) — Bayer Leverkusen is struggling to reach the high standards it set for itself last season.
Xabi Alonso’s team has already dropped points in five of its nine Bundesliga games, while Tuesday’s 4-0 loss at Liverpool in the Champions League was already its second defeat of the season.
The late goals that characterized last season’s remarkable Bundesliga and German Cup campaigns — Leverkusen won both without losing a game — seem to have dried up.
Leverkusen has already conceded 15 goals in the Bundesliga. That’s only nine goals fewer than it conceded in the league over the whole of last season.
Though Leverkusen drew with Bayern Munich 1-1 away, it also failed to beat relegation candidates Holstein Kiel and Werder Bremen.
The aura of invincibility that Alonso built around the team has evaporated. But it’s not for want of trying. Before the Liverpool game, Leverkusen had 19 shots at goal in a scoreless draw against Stuttgart, which was second in the Bundesliga last season.
Missed chances have replaced late goals as the recurring issue, while defense is also a concern.
Granit Xhaka was scathing in his criticism of the last three goals his team conceded against Liverpool, suggesting the side’s intensity dropped after conceding the first, though the Swiss midfielder remained confident the team can recover.
“If we keep doing our thing, we’ll start winning games again,” Xhaka said.
Alonso, likewise, does not seem too worried by his team’s results.
“To win against top, top teams, you need to go through tough moments and suffer. We need to learn from this,” Alonso said after the loss in Liverpool.
Alonso opted to stay at Leverkusen despite a host of suitors reportedly keen on acquiring his services in the summer – including former clubs Bayern and Liverpool – and the Spanish coach hasn’t tinkered with or changed his title-winning approach.
The squad from last season remained largely intact over the summer. Central defender Odilon Kossounou left for Atalanta, with Leverkusen bringing Nordi Mukiele from Paris Saint-Germain as his replacement. Mukiele hasn’t played much so far.
It had looked like defensive chief Jonathan Tah was going to join Bayern, but the clubs failed to agree a transfer fee for a player whose Leverkusen contract is up at the end of this season. Tah has played every minute for the team so far.
Leverkusen is already seven points behind unbeaten Bayern in the Bundesliga. It next faces a short trip to Bochum on Saturday, when new Bochum coach Dieter Hecking will hope to coax some improvement from a team that has lost eight of its nine games. Bochum has a point after a draw with Kiel in September.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Ciarán Fahey, The Associated Press
